Carmen: Credit Cards I Carry

Our wallets are a kind of key to our souls (well, our ‘money-souls’ at least). Mine has stayed pretty much the same in boom times as in the current bust. No big change in what I carry to pay for things, but something tells me that you may have changed the contents of your wallet lately.

In the interest of full disclosure, here’s what I’ve got in my wallet:

(1) A gold American Express card—nope, I won’t upgrade to the offered platinum until I travel more and get the pricey $450 annual fee’s worth. I get excellent customer service (the rental car coverage came very much in handy during a recent family vacation to St. John), rewards up the wahzoo and I can keep track of my and my husband’s expenses. (Amex Gold website).

(3) A Chase Rewards MasterCard—not liking the customer service much; they kept declining my card during the holidays because I rarely used the card and suddenly, I’d used it twice! Zoinks. The MC is my back-up for those retailers that don’t take Amex, the bums (Chase website).

I also have an old-fashioned ATM card that still works despite the expiration date of 05/07. I refuse to own or use a debit card (and for those of you who watch or read me often, you know why—too many fees and little purchase/fraud protection) so every time the bank tries to send me a new ATM/debit card, I chop it up.

So what’s in your money-holder? How many cards do you have and how long have you had them? What would you trade out? I’d love to know and have you on the show, revealing all…! E-mail me below and tell me what’s in your wallet.